The Light Inside Of The Dark Castle
by Rumbellove
Summary: Rumplestiltskin hasn't been a father for centuries, but, when he finds an abused little girl whislt walking home from a deal, he can't help but take her in. At least for a while (rated T for mention of of beating) (future rumbelle)
1. Chapter 1

"PLEASE, NO! STOP! PLEASE!"

These are the words Ava yelped everyday, repeatedly. Because she just couldn't act like a "normal child" as her mother referred to it. She just didn't understand how to be a good girl, and here she was, being beaten just like she did each day. She was only 6 but she had so many bruises and scrapes that not even an adult should have them. Her name wasn't even Ava, her mother didn't name her, she just heard another child named that and called herself that in her head, of course she never said that in front of her mother.

-====={¥}=====-

Rumplestiltskin was walking home from a deal, he would usually just poof himself back to his castle but said castle wasn't far away from his deal and it was nice to take a stroll once in a while. He was just think about that horrid night he let his son Baelfire fall through the portal when he heard a child's scream from far off. He thought about whether he should go investigate or leave the child to deal with whatever she was screaming about. The child did sound fairly young. The dark one in him would have left the young girl but, the father side of him that he hadn't brought out in hundreds of years won over and he poofed over to the source to find, oh gods no, a woman, who he presumed was the child's mother beating this poor girl. And the worst part of it all was he didn't know how to stop it, for the first time in centuries, he felt completely helpless. He decided he would save the child and magicked the woman to the dungeons in his castle, he would teach her a lesson once he found the young girl a new home with loving parents instead of that, monster.

-====={¥}=====-

Jenna didn't know what to think, her mother had just disappeared in front of her eyes presumably by the funny looking man a few trees away.

"Wh- who are you?"

"Rumplestlitskin, I heard you screaming and thought I would go and see why, now, I need you to answer 2 very important questions, first, what is your name? second, why was that woman beating you?"

Ava bowed her head, these are the two questions she dreaded being asked. She started weeping, she didn't have a name and she didn't know why "that woman" was beating her. She knew she was being a bad girl but she didn't know what she did to deserve that title.

"I- I don't know" she sobbed

The strange man named Rumplestiltskin ran to her side as Ava curled up into a ball on the ground.

"Hey, hey, hey, it's ok if you don't know why she was hurting you, I'm not mad, just calm down and tell me your name"

Ava nodded, it eased her to know that he wasn't angry or going to hurt her, the man seemed nice but he didn't seem to understand that she didn't know what her name was so she tried stating it in a clearer form.

"I don't-" she sniffled "h-have a-a name"


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: to LilyMayRose: yes, I will try to keep it as close to cannon as having a small child around can get.**

"What do you mean you don't have a name?" Rumplestiltskin questioned,

"my mommy never gave me one" Ava said through the sniffles, she may call herself Ava but she knew that wasn't her name, she longed for the day that someone, not necessarily her mother, gave her a proper name.

"well i'll just have to give you a name, are you ok with that?" Rumplestiltskin said.

Ava nodded her head vigorously,

Rumplestiltskin couldn't believe her mother didn't even have the decency to give this poor child a name. Every child deserves one. Rumplestlitskin thought, he had never been tasked with naming a child, Milan had decided Baelfire's name without his consent in the slightest, even then, Backfire had been a boy. The nameless child's voice, though crying sounded sweet and lovely, as if in a beautiful harmony, aha! He would name the child Harmony.

"what about Harmony? do you like that?" Rumplestlitskin said calmly,

Ava, now Harmony, nodded

"Ok Harmony, how old are you?

Harmony held up 6 fingers, he assumed that ment she was 6 years old. He held out his hand to Harmony and she took it as she started to get up off of the ground. Upon further inspection he realized Harmony's cloths were soiled and much to small and that she weighed far too less. He picked her up and magicked them both to the Dark Castle.

"wow" an awed Harmony whispered under her breath.

Rumplestlitskin handed her some new cloths, and said

"go change into these cloths, I'll prepare something for you to eat

Harmony was puzzled, she had eaten yesterday though, she decided to voice her thoughts as Rumplestiltskin started to walk away.

"but, um, um, Rmpleslisskin" she slurred her words, he turned around to look at her

"yes?" he questioned

"I-I-I just ate yesterday" she stuttered,

Rumplestiltskin couldn't believe his ears, were they deceiving him? Yesterday was recent for this small girl? This was an outrage! No wonder she was underweight!

"I'm sorry I slurred and stuttered... and that I made you mad"

"I'll go change now" she murmured as she slowly walked away with her chin in her neck

Rumplestiltskin was infuriated, he wasn't focusing on her stutter or her slur. He was focusing on the fact that, this child, barely school aged, abused by her own mother was apologizing to HIM?! He caught her on the way out of the room.

"I'm not mad dear, I'm just surprised, I eat three times a day and that is how you will too"

Harmony's eyes widened to the size of saucers.

"Tank you" she said as she walked out of the room

He did start to wonder about her slur and stutter as he started to prepare the chicken noodle soup, but as she came back into the room wearing the dress he had conjured for her those thoughts were shaken. He sat the bowls on the dining table and they began to eat, and for what he assumed was the first time in a while Harmony smiled. She was going to make a person very happy one day, and as he sighed eternally, he told himself that person was not going to be him.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: sorry being a bit late but I came down with the flu, anyways, I hope you enjoy and I really appreciate all the favs and follows! **

After they ate dinner, Rumplestiltskin took Harmony to her room, it was quite a long walk from the dining room to the bedchambers and Harmony made conversation the entire time, slurring and stuttering every few sentences. He got her into her room and she gasped.

"Wooow" she uttered, shocked at how big the room was. "Is it really all mine?" She questioned moving her attention to the bed.

"So long as you live here, you will sleep here" he assured her,

She attacked him with a hug, "thank you! thank you! thank you!" She repeated, he was shocked at how grateful she was. He got her ready for bed and tucked her into her new bed.

Harmony was astonished at how warm and comfortable the bed was, back at home, she would sleep on the floor of the hut that was probably the size of the single room she was in, while her mother, slept on the makeshift bed of straw. She revelled in the softness of the sheets until she fell asleep, exhausted by the events of the day. Her last thought being how lucky she was to be out of the care of her mother.

Rumplestiltskin smiled, not his mischievous imp smile, but, his real smile, the smile he had when he was happy about something and not about to screw someone over. He sighed as he magicked himself to one of the people he made a deal with over 6 months ago to give a child. Making a deal with someone who wanted a child took a long time to hand over the trade, it took nine months at least. First he needed to promise the child within 1 year, then he needed to make a deal to take a first born, after the child was born he needed to take the child to the recipient. He didn't want to give harmony away, but a sweet little girl like her deserved a real family he could give her a place to sleep in, and even a name, but he wasn't anymore of a family than her mother. The recipient, a young couple in their 30's, were surprised to see him until they remembered their deal. They then formed an annoyed expression on their faces.

"Well it's about time, no?" The woman questioned, clearly impatient, did this woman think he just had a room full of children?

"My apologies, but, shockingly, I do not have a stash of infants" he sassed back, the man rolled his eyes and s

"Anyhow, have you the child?" the man said, making an effort to stay calm and reasonable.

"I do, there is one complication"

"Well, what is it? We have no interest in playing your games dark one." The woman snapped

"I suspect when we made the deal you were expecting an infant," Rumplestiltskin said walking in a circle around the young couple

"Yes, you claim you now have the young child" the man said.

"Ah, you see, the child is 6 years old." Rumplestiltskin confessed, hiding the nervousness behind an impish grin.

"Well, we didn't ask for a school age child, did we?" The man hissed, losing his cool.

"Well if you'd rather wait another 3 months, I certainly don't mind" Rumplestiltskin said, poofing back to his castle. Sighing once he got there, those were the only people he had waiting on a child. He figured getting rid of this child was going to take a while. Although, he certainly didn't mind. As he was walking to his bedchamber he heard Harmony screaming, he was concerned. when he got upstairs to her, he found her thrashing in her bed, screaming her head off.

Harmony was back with her mother, she was beating her, harder than she ever had before. Screeching at her while she bawled, she wondered if it was all just a dream about the nice man with the big castle. Until she woke up, bolting upright into Rumplestiltskin's arms. She started to cry as she curled up into a ball.

"Hey, don't cry" Rumplestiltskin comforted, rubbing her back while she cried. For at least half an hour he comforted Harmony after her night terror, until he realized she had fell asleep. And, as he slowly got up, exiting her bedchamber heading for his, he questioned why he cared so much, until he came to the conclusion that it was because he was a father, a father, that just so happened to be lacking a child.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: sosososo sorry about the wait! I had huge writers block. somebody in the reviews asked why I called her Jenna in one part, I am so sorry that happened, it was an editing problem, I was going to have Harmony call herself Jenna until I realized that name probably wasn't very relevant for the time OUAT is set. So, halfway through the chapter. So I changed her short-term name to Ava. Also thanks to all the follows, favourites and reviews!**

The next morning Harmony woke up at the crack of dawn. It was when she usually woke up, she assumed Rumplestlitskin was sleeping so she simply started to walk around her new room, surveying it, it was just so much bigger. There was a bookshelf with a few books on it, a canopy above her very large bed, and, a closet that she could have mistaken for another room. The room was quite plain and simple but Harmony wasn't going to complain. It was still quite early and she was sure that Rumplestiltskin wasn't awake yet, so, she took a book off of the shelf and started to atleast attempt to read.

(Paragraph seperator)

When Rumplestiltskin awoke, the sun had just risen, he didn't think Harmony would be up yet but he decided to check to see if she was ok. He came down from his tower and strolled to Harmony's room, he thought about her while he went to her room, it was quite a long walk. She was such a sweet child, he didn't understand why anybody would want to hurt her, she was kind, innocent, and grateful. She hadn't reached the age of 10 and she had already gone through four lifetimes of pain and suffering. While he would love to keep her, raise her to the best she could be, he knew she deserved better. When he got to her door he opened it quietly, just enough to see if she was awake, what he saw was a clearly frustrated six year old staring intently at a book, she was trying to read. He smiled to himself, it was, in a way, kind of cute the amount of effort she was putting into this seemingly simple task. He opened the door a little more and said

"I see you're awake" Harmony jumped, clearly startled at the sudden lack of silence. She turned around from the book she was trying to read and smiled.

"Good morning" she said delightfully, her voice sounding like wind chimes, Rumplestiltskin grinned, he held out his hand and asked

"Would you like to go downstairs and eat some breakfast?"

"Yes please" Harmony said, getting off of her bed, Rumplestiltskin couldn't believe how sweet she was, she was so polite. He took her hand and led her down to the dining room. Rumplestiltskin made them both porridge with fresh strawberries, when he sat the food on the table Harmony grew wide eyed.

"Thank you" she all but squealed, surprised at how appetizing the food looked. They ate in silence, Harmony taking her time to savour the food. When they were both done, Rumplestiltskin magicked them off of the table and Harmony once again thanked him for the food. It was just then, he noticed she was still in her night cloths.

"Here, change into these" he said as he handed her a teal dress with green shoes, more suitable for the day time. As Harmony thanked him yet again and skipped off to her room. She had just gone out of sight when he realized something, he was the Dark One, and the Dark One, made deals. He could hear some desperate call from a woman in need. Begging to deal. It was just then he realized he would have to leave this little girl, in a castle filled to the brim with magic, alone.


	5. Chapter 5

Rumplestiltskin scrambled to find a solution to the problem that now faced him

"You got yourself into this" he mumbled to himself, cursing himself for choosing to walk home that night, but now, he knew he there wasn't a way to get out of this. It was at the most inopportune moment that Harmony chose to enter the room with frightful look on her face.

"Um, I-I did a bad thing, I think..." she whispered as she bowed her head, thinking she was going to be punished. Rumplestiltskin's eyes grew questioning with a small hint of concern on his face.

"What happened?" He asked in a calm but stern voice.

"Uh" Harmony stuttered but then opted to just hold her hands up instead. She had spilt what she knew as green sticky stuff all over her hands, Rumplestiltskin's concern lessened, just a small potion base that he could easily make again in less than 15 minutes.

"Oh, that's alright, I can replace that, just don't touch anything you don't recognize" Rumplestiltskin said calmly but trying to enforce of not touching anything, he didn't want this child to be seriously hurt. "Why don't we head up to your room, shall we?" Rumplestiltskin said gesturing to the stairs and taking her hand to lead her up the stairs, he looked at her while they went up the steep stairs, seeing she was struggling made Rumplestiltskin's paternal instincts kick in, sweeping her off of her feet. She giggled sweetly, her big, green eyes surprised at being swiftly picked up and off of the ground, her soft, silky, unwashed and tangled hair flowing down off of his shoulders, she truly was a beautiful girl, that was much too light for his liking. Many people he made deals to for children were poor, loving they may be, but poor, most, if not all, would not be able to supply enough food for her, she was a beautiful, sweet girl that anybody should have the pleasure of meeting, she deserved the life of a princess. He could give her that, but could he give her a family? A mother, a father, and maybe a brother or sister? No. He needed to stop being selfish and do what's best for Harmony and Harmony only. He was brought out of his thoughts by the small girls voice

"um, that was my room..." she said as they passed what really was her room,

"oh, ok here we go" Rumplestiltskin said as he opened the door. He conjured up some children's books, dolls and an apple while Harmony looked on in awe, amazed at the seemingly effortless magic.

"now, I need to leave to do some" he paused, "business" he continued.

"make sure you do not, under any circumstances leave this room until I get back, do you understand?" he asked with a firm tone to make sure Harmony heard what he was saying, giving the dolls, books, and apple to Harmony he said

"you can play with these while I'm gone, and in case you get hungry you can eat this" he said pointing to the apple.

"yessir" she said, once again slurring her words with a look of fear in her eyes,

"I will be back by lunchtime so dont worry" he said trying to erase that fear, smiling at her to assure her he would not lay a finger on her even if she did leave the room. He then left, shutting, but not locking the door behind him and setting out for his deal, he hoped he could get someone to take this child before he got too attached to her. Unfortunately for him, this deal was just like many others, crops were dying in a nearby kingdom and the king had called on him to fix it, he did, in exchange for a couple of magical items they had in their armory. He was finished by 11 am and hoped the six year old had not gotten too impatient. He let out a small sigh of relief when he opened the door to Harmony's room to find her playing with the dolls he had given her, that is, until she heard him step in, she immediately turned her head, there was a moment silence until she started talking a mile a minute,

"oh youre back, I promise I didn't go out of the room, I just stayed in here and played with my dolls and then I read and then I played with my dolls some more and then you came and then" she took a huge breath and Rumple took this as a chance to intervene and assure her that everything was fine.

"hey hey hey, dont worry, I'm back now, do you want to go downstairs and play in the gardens?" he questioned, he knew from experience, children always loved to run and play outside, it almost wasn't healthy for a child of this age to spend all of their time inside.

...

She had never actually "played" outside, the only time her mother let her outside was to tend to the small patch of wheat outside their house, she didnt want people seeing Harmony all beaten up. She thought it would be fun so she nodded, of course she didnt know what you were supposed to do when you got out there but she assumed she would figure it out. Once they got to the gardens she marveled for a moment, she had never witnessed something so beutiful, it smelled deeply of roses and there were so many different flowers. Her attention came to a big, wonderful, monarch butterfly she had only seen a butterfly once, one had flown into the small hut her and her mother had, her mother screamed at it, calling it a "pest" and "vermin" while killing it. Harmony's first instinct was to run after it, trying to catch it, its wings looked as if they would feel like clouds. And for that moment, she forgot all about her terrible life leading up to this second, she forgot about, her mother, she forgot about what pain felt like, for that one moment, everything felt OK.

**OKOKOK please put down you pitchforks and torches, I have the kind if writers block where you know what you want to do with your characters in the long term but you have no idea how to lead up to that point. Anyway, I plan on continuing this no matter what.**


	6. Chapter 6

Two weeks. Two weeks of Harmony living in the dark castle, Rumplestlitskin was starting to look at the pros and cons of keeping her he was selfish, and he knew that, Harmony did seem truly happy there with him but he was in no shape to be a father, calling her his daughter would put her in great danger. He had many enemies who would do anything to hurt him, if he got attached to her they would no doubt use her to get at him. And so, he tried so desperately to distance himself from her while still keeping her happy. Harmony really was a beautiful little girl and he supposed that is what made him scared for her, she was too innocent, too pure for her own good and he didn't want to taint that. He was so caught up in not getting attached to her that he forgot that she might be getting attached to him. After all, who could ever love a monster?

...

The past two weeks had been the best two weeks of her life, had you told Harmony two weeks and one day ago that she would be living in a castle soon she would have laughed in your face, but here she was, living in a giant castle, with a name and for once in her life, a person that seemed to care about her. The person in question, Rumplestiltskin (she called him rumple for short) was, different to say the least, he had green, almost reptilian skin with large eyes and tight clothes. But he was her hero, he was kind and caring and so much as raised his voice at her, and to top it all off, he saved her, from her abusive mother. She truly thought of him as her father, her papa. But was he okay with that? Did he mean to come of this way? She would never know, unless, she asked him, and if he said yes, then.. Did that mean she had a loving, caring family? Something she longed so much for. Harmony decided to ask him tomorrow at breakfast as she climbed into bed for the night.

...

When she woke Harmony climbed out of bed to get ready for the day, she was nervous, no doubt but exited, she was almost sure he would say yes but something was nagging at her, what if he didn't say yes? Would he be angry for thinking wrongly? Would he send her back to her mother? These worries got the best of her as she sat down at the dinner table while Rumplestiltskin was sitting down the food he asked

"Is something troubling you Harmony? You look worried" he asked with concern, she cursed herself she had promised herself she would keep herself together, hide her emotions.

"Well," she swallowed "I was thinking" she stopped. Maybe this was a bad idea? Maybe she should do some quick thinking and steer this around, perhaps she should request a certain lunch today or- no. She needed to get through this. "Could I call you papa?" She asked.

...

Rumplestlitskin's jaw dropped, his eyes widened, he was in total shock, did Harmony really just say that? Was this a dream? Would he soon wake up to Harmony back to being shy and timid? It didn't matter because in that moment all he could feel was joy, some people say that there is one moment in your life that feels like it's going to last a lifetime, and for Rumplestiltskin, this was it. He didn't know what he was going to say, he figured he would just let whatever comes out, come out. And it looked like he said yes, seeing the overjoyed look on Harmony's face made it seem that he had made the right choice, he smiled to himself.

"Why don't I get us some breakfast then my dear?" _My dear_ he hadn't said that particular term of endearment since, well, Milah. When he realized that he promised never to use that name to address her again. He turned back to see Harmony with the most hopeful, innocent look on her face, how could anybody be so cruel to this beautiful girl? That was something he would never understand.


	7. Chapter 7

A whole year Harmony had been in the dark castle, she knew every nook and cranny, well, at least the ones she was aloud into. She could barely remember all of the pain her mother had caused her, of course, she still remembered her mother, but she wasn't still hurting. Harmony never knew what her real birthday actually was so her father and her just agreed to make it the day she was welcomed into the Dark Castle, May seventeenth. Speaking of the Dark Castle she never seemed to be able to leave it. She could go out into the gardens to play, but Harmony could never go outside the castle walls, her father warned her that she could be hurt, being his daughter, but, surprisingly to the both of them, Harmony didn't mind. All of the interactions she had had when she was obligated to go to the market place with her mother ranged from unpleasant to uninteresting. She was more than content with her life there and her life was almost perfect. Note the almost, Harmony would say to anybody she talked to, well, that was if she had someone to talk to about her life, you see, Harmony was lonely. Her father had work to attend to and left for greats amounts of time during the day, leaving Harmony alone. Rumplestiltskin loved and cared for Harmony, no doubt, but Harmony still longed for somebody to talk to about her dreams, somebody to go to when she scraped her knee climbing a tree while home alone. These were the things she'd never say in front of her father because she knew from experience that her father would feel she wanted him replaced. How? Well when her fathers friend, Jefferson, came over (she had to hide because Rumplestiltskin didn't want anybody finding out about her) Jefferson would go on about how his daughter, Grace. (who was around two years older than Harmony) was the best thing that had ever happened to him, she feared Rumplestiltskin would one day come home with Grace to replace her. When she came downstairs to breakfast she was surprised to see a plethora of pineapple (Harmony's favourite food) on the table waiting for her along with her papa, Rumplestiltskin sitting down at the far end of the table.

"Papa!" Harmony squealed upon registering the sight, she ran to him to give him a hug and Rumplestiltskin openly accepted it, both of them smiling uncontrollably.

"Do you like my little surprise for you, my song?" The former spinner inquired, embracing Harmony, she was too young, too innocent for him to put his act on for her. Instead he treated her how he treated Baelfire all those years ago. Harmony put the light in his life, Rumplestiltskin only hoped that he would never lose her as he lost his son, but he would get his son back, one day, another year and twenty eight more and he would have all he needed, his son, and his daughter.

"Now, tell me, what do you wish for, anything in the world, I can give it to you, for today, is your birthday." He said sweetly, Harmony debated whether or not to tell him she longed for a care-taker, wait! Maybe, she could ask for someone to clean up the castle! It was quite dirty throughout her home and it wasn't at all a difficult request, it was a win win! Her papa would, no doubt, like a cleaner house, as a matter of fact, she had heard him mumbling about the clutter just the other day.

"Well, papa, I've been thinking, and I want a person to clean the house!" They could dust and sweep so you could spend more time with me!" She semi-smoothly pronounced. Rumple's face twisted a bit, almost as if you could see the gears moving in his head, he could see why Harmony wanted this, she just wanted to spend more time with her papa, it would also cure her loneliness, little did Harmony know, Rumplestiltskin had sensed her loneliness and was actively looking for a solution. She, obviously a woman, could care for Harmony, read to her, put her down for her nap, be her mother figure, something Harmony so desperately needed. He smiled and said

"Of course I can arrange that, you are my song and I would do anything for you, now, it may have to wait a few days but I promise I will get you whatever you want. Now, why don't we go play?" Harmony let out a sigh of relief and then realized what he said after that.

"Wait, you don't have to work today?" She hopefully inquired, he always had to work, Harmony didn't think today would be any different.

"Of course Harmony! It's your birthday! Anything you want to do, we can" he assured her, Harmony's eyes lit up with all of the thoughts on what she could do with a day with just her papa and her. The last time this had happened was winter solstice!

"Can we read a book?"

...

As Rumplestiltskin sat down in the lounge after a long day he smiled to himself, that day had truly been a treat for Harmony, who had just been put down to bed. He then turned is attention to his wheel and sat down at it, he started to think about Harmony's request for a caretaker, it would be no easy job, getting a woman brave enough to offer herself to the dark one, a woman he could trust not to hurt his daughter (or at least attempt to) could he trust anyone with the secret of his child secret? Just then, a messenger bird came flying through the window with a piece of parchment tucked neatly in its talons he unrolled it to see:

_To: The Dark One_

_Please help, our people are dying as an effect of the ogre war, can you save us?_

_~Princess Belle of Avolena_

Rumplestiltskin sighed, getting up to go to Avolena, when he realized, this was a woman, not even a queen that messaged him, she clearly showed bravery, but could he trust her? That was something he could find out


End file.
